Being an artist is difficult. In South Asia, it can be discouraging due to poor state funding, perplexed parents, and opaque market prospects. Talented, committed artists have set examples in the past--- but women, especially from marginalized ethnic backgrounds, face…
Karachi’s Architectural Heritage is slowly disappearing. This includes many reasons, ranging from a lack of initiatives by the Sindh Government, a lack of knowledge or desire to conserve what remains, and collective amnesia. The response to buildings of historic character…
A group of multidisciplinary artists and a studious curator convene at Barkat Ali Islamia Hall, opposite Mochi Gate, along a circular road in Lahore. They investigate indigenous knowledge systems and their intersections with ecology, ancient history, mythology, and mysticism, thoroughly…
Achara--- reimagined as a vibrant medium for narrative and spatial exploration in the exhibition Folding/Unfolding- The Achara Chronicles, curated by Arshad Faruqui. The curator focuses on highlighting principles of repurposing, thereby reflecting on the recurring nature of artistic creation. Within…
A solo show by Noman Bhatti opened its doors to his fine art photography series titled Evolving Selves at the IVS Gallery, Karachi on the 15th of October, 2024. In this exhibition curated by Malika Abbas, Bhatti unveils eighteen striking…
The deliberate intention to illustrate the miniature paintings in an unrealistic manner was aligned with the aesthetic reasoning of the painters to represent reality in a fictional way. Unlike their Western counterparts, miniature paintings have always deviated from the photographic…
‘I am one colour with your friendship, a companion of your love.’ --Jalaluddin Rumi1 The exhibition Valleys Of The Simorgh materialised from the INTRA project with the long title, INTRA Research Project: Valleys of the Simorgh. A transhistorical Quest for Equality and…
A characteristic that is common to most contemporary art galleries today is the desire to present art in slick white cubes with pristine white walls where objects are “neatly” arranged so that nothing else “distracts” or obstructs our point of…
To search for poetic nuances in contemporary narratives of human conflict, politics of land, and geographical divide, one may look towards the renditions of nature in art practices from the past and present. Countries are marked through the contour lines…
In the late 1700s, wealthy Europeans eating from pewter plates died when they consumed tomatoes. For over a hundred years they feared the fruit, ignorant that their tableware combined with a tomato’s acidity caused lead poisoning1. In the subcontinent, brass…